This invention relates to a method of producing an edible product of fish meat paste simulating crab leg meat and the edible product produced by the method. More particularly, this invention relates to a method of producing an improved substitute for crab leg meat which not only gives a particular oral sensation as if real crab leg meat were being eaten but also has an appearance closely resembling real crab leg meat and consequently has a high commercial value.
There are known various methods of making an edible product simulating crab leg meat from fish meat paste, such as those disclosed in Japanese Patent Publication Nos. 14784 through 14789. In these methods, several sheets of coagulated fish meat paste are cut into noodle-like strings, and the cut sheets are piled one upon another so that the strings are put together into a bundle, which is cut aslant into a plurality of blocks containing short fibers of coagulated fish meat paste, which resemble those of real crab leg meat. The methods include a troublesome step of piling up the sheets of coagulated fish meat paste that have been cut into noodle-like strings, and the devices for carrying out the methods are much complicated.
In Japanese Patent Application No. 1-178230, the present inventor has proposed a method of producing a product of fish meat paste simulating crab leg meat. In this method, as two stripes of heat-coagulated fish meat paste are conveyed longitudinally on a conveyor belt, they are cut into a plurality of noodle-like strings, which are put together into a pair of bundles, each of which is cut aslant and symmetrically with the other bundle into a plurality of block components, which are put together in pairs with the opposite cut surfaces of each pair of block components contacting each other, so that a plurality of blocks each looking like the nocked end of an arrow are formed. The blocks are then combined longitudinally into an elongated body, which is again cut into pieces of a desired length. It is difficult, however, to combine the individual blocks into a single elongated body, and it takes a long time to combine the blocks and then cut the combined blocks into pieces of a desired length.
It is therefore one object of the invention to provide a method of producing an edible product of fish meat paste which not only gives a particular oral sensation as if real crab leg meat were eaten but also has an appearance more closely resembling real crab leg meat than the various substitutes for crab meat known in the prior art.
It is another object of the invention to provide such a method as mentioned above which can be carried out in a simpler and more efficient manner than the known methods of producing similar products simulating crab leg meat.